[비즈한국] 'S Math Thief,' a children's math learning comic based on the IP (intellectual property) of Nexon's popular online game MapleStory, will be published on June 12. Following the completion of the 100-volume 'Math Thief' series—South Korea's No. 1 math learning comic—last May, which achieved a phenomenal record of over 8.7 million copies sold, the birth of a new legendary "super" math comic is imminent.
'S Math Thief Vol. 1: The Appearance of a Mysterious Boy' was teased in the announcement article for the completion of the 100-volume 'Math Thief' series last year, generating great anticipation among 'Sudo-Kids' (children who love Math Thief) and their parents. To live up to these expectations, the publisher and the creative team have spared no effort. Dr. Yeo Woon-bang provided the math content, while renowned learning comic author Song Do-soo wrote the story, and Seo Jung-eun illustrated it. Many incumbent elementary school teachers also participated in the project. The 'S' in 'S Math Thief' stands for SUPER, SMART, SPECIAL, SCIENTIFIC, and SURPRISING.
Let's take a look at the details of the book. First, true to its slogan, "Creative convergence learning comic from math concepts to application!", it fuses math and science. Science is naturally woven into a math adventure story featuring characters with superpowers.
The math content is systematically organized to build skills from basic concepts to application. Math terms are explained in Korean, Chinese characters, and English, helping children clearly understand the origins and concepts of terms, improve their mathematical literacy, and develop the power to solve descriptive math problems. Notably, the 'Workbook' section has doubled in length and now features full color. The variety and difficulty of problems—such as fill-in-the-blanks, matching, OX quizzes, and creative puzzles—allow everyone from beginners to upper-grade elementary students to take on the challenge. Children can check their skills by solving the workbook problems and use the answer key and explanations to understand difficult topics.
A new corner has also been added where incumbent elementary school teachers select the most interesting questions from children and introduce them in a news format. Tailored to the children's level, it provides easy and fun explanations and term definitions to build common knowledge in science and math, while also fostering creativity through mini-discussions that encourage thinking.
Dr. Yeo Woon-bang, who wrote the math content and the workbook, graduated from the Department of Applied Mathematics at Seoul National University's College of Engineering and earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Iowa State University in the United States. He has contributed to the development of South Korea's economy and education while serving as a Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), a member of the Presidential Advisory Policy Planning Committee, Director of the Korea Multimedia Education Center (KMEC), an adjunct professor at KAIST and Sejong University, a professor at Korea Polytechnic University, a board member of the Textbook Research Foundation, and Chairman of the System Mathematics Research Association.
Dr. Yeo Woon-bang repeatedly emphasizes that "the most important thing in studying math is not finding the right answer, but enjoying the process." He stated that he did his best to prepare the math content for 'S Math Thief' for the children of South Korea whom he loves.
'S Math Thief' Vol. 1 has been available for pre-order since May 22 at three major online bookstores (Yes24, Kyobo Book Centre, and Aladin) and through 'Smile 24,' the official shopping mall of Seoul Media Comics. After its official release on June 12, it will be available for purchase at online and offline bookstores nationwide, large hypermarkets, and Coupang. First-edition readers will receive a special gift, a 'Math Superpower ID Card.'